Africa

2010

New York, August 24, 2010--Veteran radio journalist Barkhat Awale, at left, was killed by crossfire today in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, according to local journalists and news reports. He is the second journalist killed on duty in Somalia this year, according to CPJ research.

Awale, 60, director of the community radio station Hurma Radio, was on the roof of the station assisting a technician in fixing the station's transmitter when a stray bullet hit him in the stomach, local journalists told CPJ. His colleagues rushed him to Madina Hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Tags:

The chorus of voices opposing the South African government's
proposed Protection of Information Bill
and state-backed ombudsman continue to grow. South Africa's Business Dayestimates
the press produces three articles per day opposing what many journalists see as an
attempt by the ruling party to muzzle investigative reporting.More than 30 editors from major papers published
protest messages mid-month calling on the government to abandon the planned
legislation. But the South African media has yet to coordinate a mass protest
comparable to that successfully orchestrated by Kenyan journalists in 2007
against the country's media bill. And President Jacob Zuma, infamous for
issuing defamation suits against a critical South African press, may not back
down easily in the face of public criticism.

Tags:

As heads of state gathered last week at
the summit of the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, in Namibia,
their discussions were dominated by the progress
of Zimbabwe's precarious power-sharing political agreement, which includes
pledges to address a repressive
media environment. Leading the mediation in the Zimbabwean crisis has been
neighboring South Africa, which has been seen as a one-eyed man among the blind
in terms of democracy and press freedom in Southern Africa. Yet the moral
authority of South African president Jacob Zuma in Zimbabwe's situation is
undermined by proposals of his African National Congress-led government to
restrict the vibrant press in South Africa.

Tags:

On August 17, 2010,two
men barged into the offices of the Awramba
Times, theindependent Amharic-language
weekly in the capital, Addis Ababa, and
assaulted Moges Tikuye, a security guard, the paper reported. Tikuye suffered minor injuries. Early the next morning, assailants smashed
the windows and doors of the office.

Tags:

The South African media is facing its fiercest battle yet with the country's ruling
party, the African National Congress (ANC), over the boundaries
of freedom of expression in the 16-year-old democracy. On August 8, 37 senior
members of the media issued a declaration decrying recent moves on the part of
the ANC to potentially restrict the media's ability to report freely. The Auckland Park
Declaration was published shortly after a war of words erupted over a media tribunal
proposed by the party.

Tags:

It has been a week since Togolese photojournalistKomiAgbedivlo, better known as "Didier Ledoux," was verbally abused by a military officer from France as he covered a political demonstration in the capital, Lome. The incident might have gone unnoticed, if not for social media and a year charged with historical symbolism for Togo, which is celebrating 50 years of independence from France. So the day, far from going unnoticed, has lived on through the Internet.

Tags:

New
York, August 16, 2010--The
Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the semi-autonomous
region of Puntland to
immediately release jailed radio journalist Abdifatah Jama, who was sentenced
on Saturday to six years in prison on charges related to an interview with
Islamic rebel leader Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom.

Tags:

Dear President Zuma:
We are writing to express our concern about legislative proposals that would severely restrict South Africa's independent press corps, which is distinguished for its dynamism and professionalism. We call on you as the head of state and leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to ensure that such proposals are either amended in line with constitutional safeguards for freedom of the press and access to information, or withdrawn altogether in the interest of preserving the transparency, accountability, and democracy gained after apartheid.

Tags:

Fifty years ago, development journalism helped to silence dissenting voices:
One had to rally to the fathers of the nation for the sake of national unity.
Accordingly, the legacy of these 50 years of Francophone media in Africa is freedom of the press and opinion. Journalists prod the
elites, who are allergic to criticism, and require that they account for their handling
of power and assume responsibility in the face of the various scandals they cause.
Recently in Burkina Faso for instance, a government minister had to resign
after the print media revealed his extramarital affair with a married
woman. This was unthinkable a few years
ago.

Tags:

New York, August 12,
2010--The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
should cancel the Obiang prize at its next session in October 2010, the
Committee to Protect Journalists and 95 partner groups said in a letter to
UNESCO Executive Board members today.